We sat down with Clare Noy and chatted about their exciting new show Funny Though. From Mischief Theatre’s beloved comic fall specialist, Clare Noy comes Funny Though, a raw and revealing solo show about the true cost of being funny. This 60-minute confessional dramedy exposes the burnout, anxiety, and personal toll behind the laughs, as Noy navigates the pressures of making comedy her survival — and the struggle to stay relevant in a world obsessed with constant content. Directed by Lauren Lambert Moore, Funny Though is a fearless exploration of what performers sacrifice when the spotlight fades, and the pain that fuels the punchlines.
Catch the show at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker 1) from Wednesday 30th July – Monday 25th August 2025 (not 13th, 20th) at 15:30
How do you see Funny Though fitting into the current landscape of British comedy and theatre?
Funny Though is like the Bisexual of the entertainment industry. It doesn’t really fit into either British Comedy or British Theatre and everyone just wants it to make its mind up already. It’s awkward and uncomfortable but essentially, funny.
It’s sort of like if Catherine Cohen gave birth to a baby reindeer.
You touch on the demand for “constant content” and the toll it takes on creators. How did you balance honesty with humour in tackling these heavier themes?
My comedy delivery is quicker and dryer than a Ryvita biscuit in a dehydrated mouth so the audience doesn’t realise I’ve actually said something harrowing until it’s too late. I sneak in the serious and then balance it out with a bad dad joke.
How do you think audiences’ expectations of performers have shifted with the rise of social media and streaming platforms?
I think in general, 15 minutes of fame has been shortened to 15 seconds due to the sheer amount of content and entertainment available to all of us now. I think we consume at a rate which is not sustainable and causes creatives to not only burn out but also means the market is so over saturated that there is no time or funding for experimentation or artist development anymore. I think a knock on effect of this is that political art has been replaced with quick and easy entertainment as artists just try to keep up. Theatre no longer has time or space to kick back at the people or systems in power because we’re all too busy trying to stay relevant and make a living. I think that societally, if we’re not careful, audiences could be stifling important voices of the future by demanding as much quick capitalist entertainment as we currently do.
Funny Though is described as a “reckless escalation of bad choices.” Did you draw from any personal moments of self-sabotage while creating this character?
Honestly, it’s a real mixed bag, this show was born when I started doing stand-up comedy during a period of very personal crisis. Saying that, very few of my anecdotes are word for word true but some of them are. Most of it is me daydreaming about things that have happened to me and the choices I could’ve made to make life worse. Or funnier.
What role does audience interaction or reaction play in a show about the pressures of performing?
Oh like, the audience is involved. I won’t say anymore than that but complicity is a massive theme in this show and I hope the audience feel that.
I hope it encourages individuals to look at the rate at which they consume entertainment and to think about whether or not it’s sustainable and to wonder, what are we all distracting ourselves from? And what would happen if we all stopped telling jokes? Was she even that funny though?